Sergii Zhmurchak/iStock via Getty Images When EquipmentShare.com ( EQPT ) went public in January, I concluded that rental growth came at a price. Investors liked the rapid growth and philosophy of this rental company, self-described as the future of construction, yet I feared slim operating margins and quite some debt employed, leaving no realistic earnings. Ever since, a $33 stock has fallen abou...
Sergii Zhmurchak/iStock via Getty Images When EquipmentShare.com ( EQPT ) went public in January, I concluded that rental growth came at a price. Investors liked the rapid growth and philosophy of this rental company, self-described as the future of construction, yet I feared slim operating margins and quite some debt employed, leaving no realistic earnings. Ever since, a $33 stock has fallen about 40% to its current level at $20 per share; that is less than two months following the offering. This big pullback more than warrants an update, certainly as the company just reported its 2025 results, with the company ending the year on a solid note. Other, higher conviction ideas, including recent IPOs, can be found at Value In Corporate Events . About These Results In the second half of March, EquipmentShare.com reported its 2025 results. Total revenue growth was reported at 16%, with full-year sales reported at $4.38 billion, but that understates the real growth. Equipment rental revenue rose by 34% to $2.72 billion, while equipment sales fell 8% to $1.54 billion. All this was complemented by some smaller equipment parts and supplies revenues. Key rental revenue showed strong growth throughout the year, ending the fourth quarter with 35% growth. Operating profits of $297 million came in at nearly 7% of sales. Such operating earnings were up 36% on the year before, amidst fundamental margin gains demonstrated upon. That was mostly sufficient to pay a $285 million interest bill, leaving flattish results on the bottom line. That is not really fair, as the company is in massive expansion mode, having opened 95 new sites during 2025, to end the year with 385 operational locations. In fact, the company quantified new market startup costs at $252 million, a huge number in the grand scheme of things. Growth does not come just at an expense in terms of startup costs, but certainly capital spending and related assets as well. Original equipment costs under management rose to $8....
Jon C/iStock Editorial via Getty Images By James Smith, Developed Markets Economist, UK Current pricing for the Bank of England looks extreme. Markets are pricing three hikes this year, albeit those expectations are likely being distorted by poor liquidity in the swaps market. We don’t think it is at all clear that the bar for rate hikes has been met at current levels of oil and gas prices. Our re...
Jon C/iStock Editorial via Getty Images By James Smith, Developed Markets Economist, UK Current pricing for the Bank of England looks extreme. Markets are pricing three hikes this year, albeit those expectations are likely being distorted by poor liquidity in the swaps market. We don’t think it is at all clear that the bar for rate hikes has been met at current levels of oil and gas prices. Our revised Bank of England base case is a pause throughout 2026, with rate cuts resuming in early 2027. Admittedly, nobody knows exactly where the threshold for hikes truly lies; last week’s meeting didn’t give much away. But last summer, Bank research suggested that second round effects tend to become more pronounced when headline inflation exceeds 3.5-4%. This is a helpful line in the sand. At current energy prices – oil at 100 USD/bbl and TTF natural gas at 50-55 EUR/MWh – UK inflation would likely peak briefly at 4% in the autumn. Alternatively, under ING’s energy base case, where disruption starts to ease through 2Q and energy prices begin to gradually fall back, we’d expect a peak of 3.5% in September. For context, that is a percentage point higher than we had anticipated before the war began. That is not a game-changer for a central bank that was otherwise ready to cut rates at the March meeting, particularly when set against the wider context of a fragile jobs market. Firms are much more likely to deal with higher energy bills by cutting jobs than aggressively raising prices. This is exactly how the hospitality sector responded to last year’s national insurance/minimum wage hikes. We think 2025, not 2022, is the playbook for how the economy is likely to respond to the current crisis. In terms of timing, pretty much whatever happens, inflation is likely to fall back in the very short term. The Ofgem household energy price cap won’t be updated again until July, which is the earliest point we’ll see the true impact of higher natural gas prices (and the impact on electricity...
bigjom/iStock via Getty Images JBS N.V. ( JBS ) reported fourth-quarter revenue rose 15% year-over-year to $23.1B. IFRS-adjusted EBITDA was down 7% to $1.72B. Adjusted operating income was down 7% to $4.43B. EPS was reported at $0.39 vs. $0.41 consensus and $0.38 a year ago. "In the fourth quarter and full year 2025, JBS reported record sales, with top-line growth across all business units, reflec...
bigjom/iStock via Getty Images JBS N.V. ( JBS ) reported fourth-quarter revenue rose 15% year-over-year to $23.1B. IFRS-adjusted EBITDA was down 7% to $1.72B. Adjusted operating income was down 7% to $4.43B. EPS was reported at $0.39 vs. $0.41 consensus and $0.38 a year ago. "In the fourth quarter and full year 2025, JBS reported record sales, with top-line growth across all business units, reflecting the strength of the company’s multi-geography and multi-protein platform," noted CEO Gilberto Tomazoni. "Return on equity reached 25%, while return on invested capital (ROIC) was 17%. Leverage ended the fourth quarter at 2.39x, in line with the company’s long-term target," he added. The JBS Beef North America segment reported record sales both in the quarter and in 2025. Resilient U.S. demand supported this performance, even with cutout values remaining at historically high levels. However, in both periods, the increase in cattle prices outpaced the change in cutout values, reflecting tighter cattle availability amid the ongoing U.S. cattle cycle. The Pilgrim’s Pride segment was noted to reflect the progress and benefits of its long-term strategies. Results in the U.S. were said to demonstrate the strength of its operations and disciplined management. The JBS Brazil segment reported record sales in both the quarter and the year, growing 26% and 21%, respectively. Higher prices partially offset the sharp increase in cattle costs during the period. Even in that context, the company recorded the highest slaughter volume in its history. Following the report, Morgan Stanley reiterated an Overweight rating on JBS. Analyst Ricardo Alves noted that short-term earnings momentum is not the core pillar of its bullish thesis, but the firm likes to see the company outperforming peers yet again, operationally speaking. "All in all, a good Q with a decent beat, while announced dividends of US$1.1bn (6.3% yield) was slightly above expectations," he wrote. Shares of JBS N.V. ( JBS ) we...
Sundry Photography/iStock Editorial via Getty Images IBM ( IBM ) said its quantum computer can simulate real magnetic materials with results that match neutron scattering experiments, marking a step toward using quantum systems for scientific research. The work was conducted by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy-funded Quantum Science Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Purdue Univ...
Sundry Photography/iStock Editorial via Getty Images IBM ( IBM ) said its quantum computer can simulate real magnetic materials with results that match neutron scattering experiments, marking a step toward using quantum systems for scientific research. The work was conducted by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy-funded Quantum Science Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Purdue University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee and IBM. The team focused on magnetic crystal KCuF3, directly comparing neutron measurements with quantum simulations. The results point toward quantum-centric supercomputing as a new scientific instrument for materials discovery, with long-term implications for superconductors, medical imaging, energy, and drug development. IBM said high simulation accuracy was enabled by quantum-centric supercomputing workflows and reductions in hardware error rates. "These results were really enabled by the two-qubit error rates that we can now access on our quantum processors," said Abhinav Kandala, principal research scientist at IBM. "We expect further improvements in error rates and extensions to higher dimensions to enable predictions of material properties that are challenging for classical methods alone." Source: Press Release More on IBM International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) Presents at Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference 2026 Transcript International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) Presents at Bank of America View from the Top CEO Series Transcript If IBM Can Drop 13% In A Day, What Does This Say About These Market Conditions? CrowdStrike expands IBM tie-up for AI-driven SOC operations IBM, ElevenLabs partner to add voice capabilities to enterprise AI platform
German officials see a risk that the nation’s economy will grow at just half the pace they had envisaged if the Iran war drags on, according to people familiar with the matter. Internal estimates anticipate expansion of just 0.5%, down from the most recent projection of 1%, in a worst-case scenario of the Middle East crisis dragging on, the people said, declining to be identified because the numbe...
German officials see a risk that the nation’s economy will grow at just half the pace they had envisaged if the Iran war drags on, according to people familiar with the matter. Internal estimates anticipate expansion of just 0.5%, down from the most recent projection of 1%, in a worst-case scenario of the Middle East crisis dragging on, the people said, declining to be identified because the numbers aren’t public. Under less severe assumptions of elevated oil and gas prices persisting at current levels in the coming weeks, officials see growth of 0.6% to 0.7%. That scenario would also envisage growth in 2027 to be 0.1 percentage point lower at 1.2%, the people said. The German finance minister declined to comment on potential economic outlooks. The economy ministry didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment. The scenarios won’t necessarily be reflected Germany’s official forecasts, that are set to be published by leading economic institutes on April 1. The estimates attempt to capture the mounting damage to Europe’s biggest economy caused by energy-supply disruptions in the wake of the war sparked by US President Donald Trump ’s attack on Iran. The crisis is forcing officials around the euro region to reassess the outlook. Last week, the European Central Bank reduced growth projections, and Italy’s government is set to cut its own forecast for 2026 to as low as 0.5%, people with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday. Distinct Setback For the ruling coalition of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz , the outbreak of war marks a distinct setback. The government had been counting on a recovery taking hold after two years of contraction and one close to stagnation , and the economy was indeed showing early signs of a pickup driven by public investment. Merz’s conservative CDU/CSU bloc and the Social Democrats led by Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil are currently engaged in negotiations over sweeping reforms aimed at restoring competitiveness and closing a budget gap...